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TI-2018-11885 Aliases CVE-2018-16588GHSA-xp85-jf82-g597

Privilege escalation can occur in the SUSE useradd.c code in useradd, as distributed in…

Priority LOW 34CWE-732Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

Privilege escalation can occur in the SUSE useradd.c code in useradd, as distributed in the SUSE shadow package through 4.2.1-27.9.1 for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 (SLE-12) and through 4.5-5.39 for SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 (SLE-15). Non-existing intermediate directories are created with mode 0777 during user creation. Given that they are world-writable, local attackers might use this for privilege escalation and other unspecified attacks. NOTE: this would affect non-SUSE users who took useradd.c code from a 2014-04-02 upstream pull request; however, no non-SUSE distribution is known to be affected.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00301 22nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
——all versions—No fix listedCNA
  • — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 4

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:suse:shadow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 4.2.1-27.9.1VulnerableSUSE
cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*12.0Running onSUSE
cpe:2.3:a:suse:shadow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 4.5-5.39VulnerableSUSE
cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise:15.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*15.0Running onSUSE
  • cpe:2.3:a:suse:shadow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 4.2.1-27.9.1 Vulnerable ·SUSE
  • cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 12.0 Running on ·SUSE
  • cpe:2.3:a:suse:shadow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 4.5-5.39 Vulnerable ·SUSE
  • cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise:15.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 15.0 Running on ·SUSE

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 5 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Virtualization 4

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-16588
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xp85-jf82-g597

References

Advisory 1

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences